


The Strength of Nations

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe - Ancient Egypt, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Canon Disabled Character, Diplomacy, Erik Lehnsherr Has Feelings, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sebastian Shaw Being an Asshole, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23699554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: "You know," Sebastian said, lying back on a couch and signalling for Erik to step closer, for all that they were alone and not at risk of being overheard. Erik knelt so that he could look Sebastian in the eye. "If we were in any civilised society, they would have been killed at birth, and we wouldn't be faced with this particular problem."
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr & Sebastian Shaw, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 19
Kudos: 85
Collections: X-Salon Challenge Works





	The Strength of Nations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [homosociality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/homosociality/gifts).



> So whilst I've called it Westchester - what we see here is as best as I can represent the country's attitude towards disability, and Strabo's quote is one that was given about Ancient Egypt. King Tutankhamun was disabled, and buried with at least 130 walking sticks, and there were disabled gods. Statues also survive of disabled advisors, and also of representations of same-sex pairs presented in the same way as married couples.
> 
> Despite the geographical issues involved, there are references that imply Sebastian and the rest of the brotherhood are from Sparta, which...had no direct dealings with Ancient Egypt, but honestly? Fic is not the best place to learn Ancient History.
> 
> Written for the Ancient Egypt square in X-Salon AU Bingo. Thanks to Homosociality

"You know," Sebastian said, lying back on a couch and signalling for Erik to step closer, for all that they were alone and not at risk of being overheard. Erik knelt so that he could look Sebastian in the eye. "If we were in any civilised society, they would have been killed at birth, and we wouldn't be faced with this particular problem."

Erik nodded, ducking his head slightly to hide his smirk. He understood the importance of this meeting, the fact that their kind needed to defend themselves. He'd listened, and learned, as Shaw had taught him how their kind would be treated by the humans. 

Now here he was, the trusted lieutenant of En Sabah Nur's strongest general. The might of the Genoshan army, held back by a few weak humans, led by a prince who could not even stand. 

The negotiations had been dragging on for weeks now, and Sebastian was tiring of it. The prince's demands were simple, but not something that Genosha would agree to - he wished for the kingdom of Westchester to continue, without invasion or harm. But Westchester was vital to En Sabah Nur's plans, a small kingdom on the banks of a great river, where the soil was flooded and yet the culture thrived. More than that, any nation where the gods, the gifted and the human could live in harmony - it was a threat to the very fury that En Sabah Nur taught, the rage with which Erik had been trained.

Erik had listened to all of Sebastian's ranting over the past month. The man's current rant was a familiar one - that the prince should never have been allowed to survive childhood, born as he was with withered legs, needing to be carried by his blue-furred attendant. The prince didn't even hide the injury - the heat of the sun meant he wore the same white skirt as his people, and he made no attempt to conceal such weakness. 

Sebastian also had unkind things to say about the prince's blind oracle, who guided him with quiet words, and her wife who was the head of security, rescued from a rubbish heap due to her strange skin, and the blind boy that the prince kept close, his brother a bodyguard as the prince taught him. 

"Strabo is right. It's unnatural, the way they rear every child in this land." Sebastian sighed. "If it was up to me, we would just put them to death now. That's what should happen, to their kind-" Sebastian muttered to himself, and Erik's smirk widened. "I mean, my boy, you saw what happened with... that unfortunate incident with the Quested boy. Shame, but he was a waste of resources."

"I did," Erik agreed. He'd known Janos since their childhood. The two of them had been boys at the same time, trained together, fighting each other until their fists were bloody. They'd stolen food, and when they'd been punished it was Erik who had taken the beating for being clumsy enough to get caught, let Sebastian think he'd been the one so driven by hunger after days of starvation that he'd made a mistake. 

Janos had fought, and grown strong, and powerful, until a day when he had angered Sebastian, and in front of them all Sebastian had struck him, hard enough to knock out his hearing. Erik remembered how Sebastian had sneered, hauled the youth before them all, said he was a waste, and then ordered Azazel to take the boy somewhere to let him starve to death.

That had been the end of it, as far as Sebastian was concerned.

But Erik knew the fondness Azazel had for the other boy, knew he had helped him. Known where he had ended up. Because there was one nation where he would have been accepted, where he would have been helped. The only place Azazel could take his lover if he wished for him to live.

The very place they were now.

"What kind of men would allow themselves to be governed by some deformed man, cast out by the gods-" Sebastian was muttering, and Erik nodded sympathetically.

 _Is he still going on?_ The voice in his head was soft. Gentle. Everything Sebastian despised.

 _About how you should have been killed at birth? Yes._ Erik was careful not to allow his expression to change. Because the thing was, over the past month, as the bargaining had gone on, and Westchester had continued to hold their own against any attack - the prince had reached out to him. A mind brushing his in the darkness. He'd encountered telepaths before - En Sabah Nur had a concubine with a similar power. But Charles didn't seek to control.

He sought to speak.

He had told Erik how Janos was thriving. How he was communicating, how he had learned to write and now worked as a scribe. Explained the work that Westchester was doing, the way they were teaching all children some basic skills, human and mutant, and how they encouraged them to work together.

To start with, they had simply discussed policy, and Erik had allowed it because it was a distraction. But over time, he had grown fond of the prince. Of _Charles_ who smiled so brightly and was so delightedly unashamed of himself, who was so proud of all mutants, and intrigued by them, who spoke of gifting Erik with gold so that he could create whatever he wished.

Erik had never planned to be a traitor. But his life split ahead of him, two clear paths carved of marble. To serve Sebastian, the way he had since youth, or to work with Charles. 

Sebastian didn't permit Erik to carry weapons when they were alone. But that was alright. Charles had gifted each of them a gold bracelet studded with lapis lazuli at the start of the talks, a present that the oracle had insisted on, which Sebastian had seen as further weakness.

It was the work of a heartbeat to change the bracelet to a dagger, the work of a breath to plunge it deep into the man's chest, and watch as his enemy who had once been his everything fell still.

 _We're ready for you._ Charles said softly. _Come home._

A sound like the crack of a whip signalled Azazel's arrival, and Erik turned his back on his mentor and let Azazel deliver him to Charles's arms.


End file.
